The Block 2019: Money crisis hits golden couple Mitch and Mark - NEWS.com.au

Budget issues finally caught up with The Block’s frontrunners Mitch and Mark during Monday’s episode, with the couple now fearing that they may not make it to auction.

The Bondi grandads and seasoned property flippers have been this season’s most successful Block team, scoring multiple cash prizes along the way for their luxurious ‘party house’ reno.

But it seems they may have splashed the cash a little too recklessly.

During Monday’s episode, Mark takes the opportunity to run through the couple’s budget – and finds they’ve been hit with a couple of big bills that they weren’t expecting.

The bills are “so big that the team that has won the most room reveals has been pushed into the red,” says B lock host Scott Cam via voiceover.

Mitch and Mark estimate there are around $16,000 in unexpected bills – leaving them anywhere between $2000 and $10,000 in the red.

“It’s all gone. We’ve had big plumbing bills and big power bills,” Mark tells his partner over the phone, instructing him to return any of his latest purchases.

Not yet grasping the seriousness of the situation, Mitch asks what money’s still coming in.

“That’s it. It’s all gone. We shut down now. Everything’s gone,” says Mark.

“We’ve got no money to pay trades this week, so we’ve got to let everyone go?” asks Mitch.

Describing the situation as “gutting”, Mark goes to tell their tradies the bad news: There’s no money left to pay them. “I’m not happy. I’m not proud of myself,” he tells them, privately admitting he’s “embarrassed” by the budget blowout.

Back on the phone to Mitch, Mark vents about having to deal with their budget issues on camera. “I’ve got people with cameras on me waiting to have the full drama. But I’m not going to break down about it, we’re just going to get through it. We’re so close.”

The other teams – all of whom have already dealt with their own budget woes this season – react with shock (and a few hard-to-hide smiles from Tess and Luke) as Mitch and Mark’s builders pack up and leave.

“They’ve won something like $30,000 in the past couple of weeks?” says Tess. “It’s about time they had a taste of what poor felt like. Welcome. Welcome to the peasant side!”

El’ise can’t help but gloat a little. “They’ve won $55,000. We’ve won $23,000. Big difference. Huge difference! They’ve definitely isolated themselves a lot in the last month. Do we show the people we are and all chip in and help, or do we do what they’ve been doing (to us)?”

Later in the episode, and with Mitch back on site, it seems he and Mark’s dire financial situation has finally sunk in. “We’re f**ked. We can’t finish the house,” he says.

“Forget winning the auction – we might not get to f**king auction at this point.”

The Block airs 7:30pm Monday to Wednesday and 7pm Sundays.

Let's block ads! (Why?)